An ex-Marine wanted for sexually abusing a 7-year-old girl remained the target of a 12-state manhunt Thursday as officials warned he was unlikely to surrender quietly. Hit the jump to read the rest of the story.
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Fugitive Charles Alan Dyer, 31, skipped an Aug. 15 court hearing for his retrial on the sex charge and went on the lam. Three days earlier, his rural Oklahoma house burned to the ground in a suspicious fire.
“Dyer is known to have numerous weapons,” the FBI said in a release about the search for the suspect. “He should be considered armed and dangerous.”
The suspect – compared by one law enforcement official to executed terrorist Timothy McVeigh – was charged last year in Oklahoma City with unlawful possession of a grenade launcher.
Dyer’s first trial in the sexual assault case ended in a mistrial, and authorities were set for a retrial when the defendant disappeared.
The FBI posted photos of Dyer on digital billboards in a dozen states across the south from Oklahoma to North Carolina. He’s wanted for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.
Officials said Dyer was reportedly spotted last weekend near Houston, but he managed to elude agents. The FBI posted a $5,000 reward for his arrest.
Dyer received help while fleeing, from his comrades in Oath Keepers, a right-wing group whose members take an oath to obey the Constitution rather than the president, ABC News reported.
